Escape
by mylobear
Summary: The people I had loved most in the world had died in hospitles. Mom, Dad, Johnny. So when I woke up and found myself in one of the sterile, white prisons I realized two things. One: I was deathly afraid and two: I needed to leave… now." Ponyboy wakes up after the rumble with the soc's in the hospital all alone. Delirious and afraid, Pony only has one thing on his mind… ESCAPE


**Who here likes hospitals? No one? That's what I thought. In this, Ponyboy wakes up after the rumble with the soc's in the hospital all alone. Delirious and afraid, Pony only has one thing on his mind… ESCAPE!**

**Enjoy the story:)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for what I own.**

Ponyboy Pov

I hated hospitals. They reeked of death and sadness. Never once did people leave a hospital saying "Wow. What a lovely time I had today" No, they ran out the swooshing automatic doors and hoped they never have to see a nurse in their stupid white uniforms ever again.

The people I had loved most in the world had died in them too. Mom, Dad, Johnny. So when I woke up and found myself in one of the sterile, white prisons I realized two things. One: I was deathly afraid and two: I needed to leave… now.

The room I was in was completely empty and quite except for the steady drip of my IV. Every drop sounded like a gun blast and hurt my head. Annoyed, I pulled it out.

After wrestling out of the overly tucked in sheets of the hospital bed (I think even Houdini would have had a hard time!) I looked around for something to wear. At the moment, I was wearing a stupid blue hospital gown. It didn't make me look too tuff. Despite feeling out of it (too many pain killers?) I felt blood rush up into my cheeks.

Luckily there was a pile of wrinkled dirty clothes in the corner of the room next to a half empty coffee cup and a newspaper. It took a while to put my clothes on. My figures felt numb and didn't want to work. I was feeling awfully tired and wished for a cigarette or something. I had none (the nurse had probably taken mine all away) but the cup of coffee would do for now. It tasted bitter and I knew instantly it was Darry's. He never liked anything to sweet like Soda and I did. Man, I could go for a slice of chocolate cake right now.

I started towards the door in a half walk, half stumble motion. I felt really dizzy and couldn't seem to focus on anything. I put my hand out to hold onto the wall but it kept moving. I was just out at the door when my foggy brain realized something. That coffee had been hot meaning that Darry had just been here recently… and was most likely coming back!

It was just my luck then that the elevator at the end of the hall beeped and the door swished open and out stepped none other than Darry and Soda. _Perfect timing _I thought dryly.

Panic swept through my body as every second ticked by and they came closer. Sure, at the time it would have been smartest to meet them and we could leave the hospital normally, but I wasn't thinking sensibly at that time. All I knew was that I needed to leave now and if I couldn't go through the door I would have to go another way. A cold breeze tickled my cheek. I turned to see a half open widow, the white curtains blowing happily in the wind. I could hear the footsteps right outside my room now and if I didn't move fast…

I dove through the window.

Soda pov

Darry had said that I needed to go down to the cafeteria to get something to eat.

"Little Buddy, you been watching Pony since he's got here after the rumble. If you don't eat soon, you'll end up in one of those hospital beds yourself." I had argued saying that I wasn't hungry (even though I was starved) but reluctantly I had left my spot beside Ponyboy's bed and had gone. _It's not like he was going to magical disappear while I wasn't there_ I told myself as I threw my half eaten muffin in the trash.

Now, Darry and I hurriedly walked down the hall to room 314. It was the top floor of the hospital and from the large window so could see some pretty good sunsets. I knew Pony would like that, and maybe if he woke up soon he could watch one today.

The door to the room was wide open as I walked in first. I exhaled sharply and stopped, causing Darry to slam into me. I flew forward into Pony's empty bed.

I couldn't speak at first. It just didn't make sense. I tossed off his covers and looked under his bed while I grew more panicked by the second. My breath came out in short gasp.

"Pony?' I called out even though it was no use. Darry was silent while he checked and doubled check the bed, almost like he was except Pony to be there it he looked hard enough. Stupidly, I even looked in the cupboards.

Finally Darry spoke up.

"They must have moved him or… something." He finished uncertainly. I could tell he was thinking the same thing as I was. Had Pony…died? If he had I could never have forgiven myself for leaving him alone… Hot tears slipped down my face.

"Pon, where are you" I whispered to no one. Outside the window, the sun had started to slip behind the trees. I stood there feeling oddly detached. Why wasn't Pony here? It was like when you leave your shoes somewhere, then come back only to find them missing. As I stood there, I started to remember this conversation I had had with Ponyboy after our parent's funeral.

(flashback)

"I'm never going back there" whispered Ponyboy

"Where" I asked him dumbfounded "To church?"

"The hospital….It's…bad" he said struggling for words. For some reason just the way he said it almost made me laugh. The fact the Pony, the guy with a vocabulary a mile long from all the books he read, could only come up with up with the word "bad" to describe the hospital.

"So what happens when you break you arm or something? You just gonna…"I trailed off. The way he looked up at me with his big green eyes in an innocent, serious kind of way made me stop.

"I don't care if I break my back. You put me in the damn hospital, I'll leave" He was started to get worked up, so I just agreed with him so we could drop the topic. I had learned my lesson with Dally when I had kept on pushing him. I rubbed my jaw in memory.

"Aright, whatever you say" I said unconvinced.

(End of flashback)

I started to laugh again in spite of it all. No, pony wasn't dead at all. Heck, he wasn't even in this hospital. He had left, just like he had told me he would. I shook my head. That kid was something else. How he managed to escape in the span of 15 minutes was unknown to me. In an odd way I even felt sorta proud. Steve had been saying to me that if Ponyboy had been tougher then he could have fought the Soc's in the park. I had to remind him that Pony had only just turned 14 and two against five wasn't a fair fight. Still, I could picture Steve's face when I causally mentioned "Oh ya, my brother decided the hospital wasn't for him, so he just left"

Darry came hurrying back into the room, his face pale with worry.

"They said they didn't change his room. He should be right here. I… what are you smiling about like an idiot for, Soda?" Darry asked me, sounding slightly worried.

"He left. He told me that he hated hospitals and he would leave if we put him in one." I was feeling pretty smart that I have figured that out by myself. Darry on the other hand looked angry.

"And why didn't you tell me?" he growled.

'Hey" I said putting my hands up "I didn't know till know"

"Soda, do you know what this means? Pony is wandering around sick and delirious outside._ That _is NOT good." What Darry said sunk in.

"Oh shit" I whispered.

**Don't worry, there's more coming:) I always wanted to read something where pony leaves and everyone's all shocked. I got sick of looking so I wrote on instead. Please REVIEW my nice fanfictioners, it's all I ask! PLEASE:) **


End file.
